Day 5 – December 23, 2012 – Sunday
My roommate from Lithuania and I went to Longshan Temple and Bo Pi Liao.
9:20 AM - We went at Longshan Temple
As we alighted at Longshan Station, we were greeted by scenes of elderly Taiwanese playing chess, musical instruments, chitchatting. A big contrast to Ximending where the crowd is predominantly youngsters and tourists. We went inside and pray for awhile. It was a Sunday so there were a lot of people praying and there's also a long table with a bunch of food. After wandering inside, we went outside to take a few more pictures.
As we were walking, I saw old painted movie posters that I remember the story behind this place. It was the filming location of the movie “Monga“. It is a Taiwanese gangster film set in 1980s. Wanhua district where Longshan Temple is located used to be a gangster area.
There's also a museum where you can see the history of the place and it's free. We weren't able to go into the museums because of the time crunch. So we to look for a place to eat. We found a shop and we ordered food. Most of the local food shops that I went it to have English menu including this one.
10:40 AM - I told Alina that we should get back. I was planning to take the MRT but since it's only a station away from our hostel. We both agreed to walk. It turned out it wasn't such a good idea since especially if you have a limited time. We got lost while a couple times and even passed by Huaxi Night Market and another night market that I forgot the name.
11:20 AM - We wandered around the area for an hour until we finally saw Ximending. I should have been at the airport by now if we didn't walk from Longshan to Ximending. If you have time, it's actually walkable but if you don't then don't. I arrived at the hostel and packed my other stuff. I went to the hostel's reception which is a couple of blocks away to surrender my keys and the gave gave me the 200NTD deposit.
12:00 AM -They say that there are Airport buses in Ximending I didn't take the risk and wait. I took taxi to Taipei Main Station.
From there, I got lost because you have to go inside the station the to the mall. When I saw an information desk, I asked them and turned out I was at the wrong Airport bus terminal. I want to go in circles again so I just went outside and took a cab to the airport because it's already 45 minutes passed 12 and my flight leaves at 2:15PM.
1:30 PM - I paid around the taxi around 1000NTD and I used my credit card. How cool is that! I was able to checked in and got my boarding pass.
The plane left a few minutes late but we arrived in Manila 10 minute before the scheduled arrival.
This concludes my Taiwan 2012 Trip. It was the most memorable and budget friendly trip I had so far. It it were for the visa fee, Taiwan will be the next Hong Kong. The food in Taiwan is AWESOME. I love everything I ate here. My next destination..... SOUTH KOREA... Hopefully, it will push through!
9:20 AM - We went at Longshan Temple
As we alighted at Longshan Station, we were greeted by scenes of elderly Taiwanese playing chess, musical instruments, chitchatting. A big contrast to Ximending where the crowd is predominantly youngsters and tourists. We went inside and pray for awhile. It was a Sunday so there were a lot of people praying and there's also a long table with a bunch of food. After wandering inside, we went outside to take a few more pictures.
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| Me outside the Temple |
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| Me at the courtyard 10:20 AM - We decide to eat first since we haven't eaten breakfast yet before we go back to our hostel. While we were looking for a place to eat, we passed by Bo Pi Liao. I read this place somewhere so I told Alina to check this out.  |
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| Bo Pi Liao Old Street |
As we were walking, I saw old painted movie posters that I remember the story behind this place. It was the filming location of the movie “Monga“. It is a Taiwanese gangster film set in 1980s. Wanhua district where Longshan Temple is located used to be a gangster area.
 |
| Bo Pi Liao |
There's also a museum where you can see the history of the place and it's free. We weren't able to go into the museums because of the time crunch. So we to look for a place to eat. We found a shop and we ordered food. Most of the local food shops that I went it to have English menu including this one.
 |
| Taiwanese Style Fried Noodles |
11:20 AM - We wandered around the area for an hour until we finally saw Ximending. I should have been at the airport by now if we didn't walk from Longshan to Ximending. If you have time, it's actually walkable but if you don't then don't. I arrived at the hostel and packed my other stuff. I went to the hostel's reception which is a couple of blocks away to surrender my keys and the gave gave me the 200NTD deposit.
12:00 AM -They say that there are Airport buses in Ximending I didn't take the risk and wait. I took taxi to Taipei Main Station.
From there, I got lost because you have to go inside the station the to the mall. When I saw an information desk, I asked them and turned out I was at the wrong Airport bus terminal. I want to go in circles again so I just went outside and took a cab to the airport because it's already 45 minutes passed 12 and my flight leaves at 2:15PM.
1:30 PM - I paid around the taxi around 1000NTD and I used my credit card. How cool is that! I was able to checked in and got my boarding pass.
The plane left a few minutes late but we arrived in Manila 10 minute before the scheduled arrival.
This concludes my Taiwan 2012 Trip. It was the most memorable and budget friendly trip I had so far. It it were for the visa fee, Taiwan will be the next Hong Kong. The food in Taiwan is AWESOME. I love everything I ate here. My next destination..... SOUTH KOREA... Hopefully, it will push through!
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